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Category Is: San Antonio after midnight

The Heat nightclub is bringing ballroom culture to the Alamo City.

When my coworker told me about The Heat Nightclub's new Pose-inspired night's my initial reaction was, "like, the TV show?”

A number of vogueing and Category Is videos later (courtesy of RuPaul’s Drag Race), I had a better idea of the vibe inside of The Heat every Thursday night. 

As a nightclub open to people of all races, colors, genders, sexualities, The Heat has long been a champion of the LGBTQPOC+ community.

Settled on Main Street just north of downtown San Antonio, the building that is now home to The Heat has been reincarnated a number of times but has always been a home for all--- making it the perfect place to be out and proud.

It’s the sort of place where all are welcome to simply BE and be accepted as such. 

Keeping with that theme, The Heat is certainly bringing the fire with their new, weekly, Pose-inspired nights. 

Every Thursday night, The Heat will hold an ongoing event entitled ‘The Heat Is Burning’.

Paying homage to Paris Is Burning, a documentary from 1990 that focused on the house culture in New York City at the time, the event embraces the ballroom culture scene.

Attendees pop, vogue, and just generally ooze fabulousness. 

Ballroom culture, which is also known as drag ball culture is used to describe a subculture of the LGBTQ community, in which participants dance, walk, pose, and support one another as they compete in a number of categories.

While event organizers practiced their walks in a backroom ahead of the first The Heat is Burning event, the nightclub filled with anticipation as more attendees trickled in.

When the clock struck midnight, the energy in the building skyrocketed. The club was poppin’ almost as much as its attendees.

The Heat’s event organizers hyped up the crowd, calling out judges who vogued and danced their way onto the floor. The more poses they did, the more the large crowd that was now gathered, cheered. 

Before the first category was shared, attendees got in the zone, practicing their moves, and dancing along to the music which alternated between house music and electronic dance music, interspersed with DJ remixes.

Finally, the event began. 

Category Is...Club Kid

Contestants sporting a range of styles, all 90s- inspired took to the floor. 

While some posed in costume, one participant sported a tiara on top of a buzz cut with a lavender dress, others showed off their moves in more casual streetwear. 

And regardless of the dress or style, it became evident that both were really just background to the talent.

From duckwalks to spins, dips, and vogues, the crowd popped and cheered as each contestant showed up and showed out. 

Once the judges scored each contestant in the category, pairs were formed and then battled against each other. 

The ultimate winner of the Club Kid category? 

An attendee dressed in a blue nylon stocking bodysuit that covered the entire face with a greenish skirt on top and a Picasso-esque eye. 

Keeping it moving… 

Category Is: Siren

A category dedicated to the body positive movement of 2019, participants of every body type moved through classic vogue moves, more elaborate vogueing and full-on body-tossing vogueing. 

The second round followed a similar format to the first and the crowd continued to holler and hype up each and every single person that graced the pseudo-runway. 

And through the smiles, the laughs, the excitement and cheers, it was obvious that attendees came for more than the crowning of SA’s top Pose queens.  

They came to be seen, to be heard, to have a good time. 

And yes, maybe to also prove that nobody can move better than they can.. 

The weekly The Heat is Burning event will take place every Thursday night at The Heat, located at 1500 N Main Avenue, San Antonio, Texas, 78212. 

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